EXCLUSIVE: The 22nd edition of the Camden International Film Festival will feature some of the biggest names in documentary film and some of the most hotly anticipated titles.
The prestigious cinematic event in mid-coast Maine, running September 17-20, revealed its lineup Tuesday. The slate boasts Oscar winner Alex Gibney with his documentary Musk, about the world’s richest man and his lurch rightward; two-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple with her documentary Union Town, about labor organizing in New York City; Free Solo Oscar winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin returning to Camden with another mountainous film – Everest: The Other Side. Oscar winner Laura Poitras brings her latest, the short documentary They’re Here, co-directed by Rachel Lauren Mueller.
Joshua Oppenheimer, a two-time Oscar nominee, will be represented at Camden with his short doc The Revolution Against Death. Among other prominent filmmakers at Camden are Sierra Pettingill with the world premiere of Argonauts at the End of History; Nanette Burstein (Carl Sagan: We Are Made of Star Stuff); Luke Lorentzen (Boatbuilders), and Sam Pollard (Tutu).
The main slate is stacked with 37 U.S., North American and world premieres. Two strong Oscar contenders that premiered earlier in the year at Sundance – Once Upon a Time in Harlem and To Hold a Mountain – also join the CIFF lineup. Scroll for the full lineup of features and shorts.
“A program of the Points North Institute, CIFF stands among the world’s most influential platforms for cinematic nonfiction, showcasing groundbreaking work from global filmmakers in an intimate, small-town setting on the coast of Maine,” notes a release. “It is one of the largest documentary industry gatherings in the U.S., serving as both a launchpad for Oscar campaigns and a gateway for international filmmakers to reach American audiences, distributors and production partners.”
Joining Sierra Pettingill’s Argonauts at the End of History on the roster of world premieres features are Hubert Taylor and Cyrus Moussavi’s Windows of Time; Nicole Costa’s No Money No Honey, and Grace Harper Brighouse’s Dependence, which “uses the camera to reconnect with her father, estranged after years of his OxyContin addiction.”
“When it feels as though everything is recorded and nothing is remembered, the filmmakers here look closer and stay longer,” commented Sean Flynn, artistic director and Points North co-founder. “Just as photographers use long exposures to turn faint light into indelible images, they have spent years, sometimes decades, patiently telling stories that guide our frayed attention back toward what is most precious, most alive and human, most deserving of protection and preservation.”
Along with Flynn, this year’s festival was curated by Senior Programmer Zaina Bseiso, Festival Manager Morgan Hulquist, and programming associates Gugi Gumilang (Features) and Nehal Vyas (Shorts).
“Time moves differently across this program, expanding, compressing or coming to a pause to reveal what might otherwise remain unseen,” observed Bseiso. “In the hands of these filmmakers, the manipulation of time brings obscured or unexplored patterns into focus while foregrounding what is truly unique to cinema.”
CIFF takes place at venues in Camden and Rockport, Maine. The festival awards prizes in two major juried competitions — the Harrell Award and Cinematic Vision competitions. For the second year, the Fowlie Audience Award — named after CIFF founder Ben Fowlie — will be presented to the film rated highest by audience members, with the winner receiving a $10,000 cash prize.
“The conditions for making independent documentary have rarely been harder, and the need for it has rarely been clearer,” noted Points North Executive Director Elise McCave. “Funding has contracted, distribution has narrowed, and filmmakers are being asked to justify work that takes years to do properly. What our 2026 program demonstrates is that they are doing it anyway. Our job is to make sure that when they arrive here in Maine, they find an audience, a market, and a community equal to what they have made.”
YETI, RandomGood Foundation, The deNovo Initiative, and LEF Foundation return as headline sponsors of the festival, joined by Points North Institute supporters the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Maine Office of Tourism.
The CIFF slate is once again international in scope with films originating from Palestine, Algeria, South Africa, China, Vietnam, Japan, Montenegro, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, the U.S. and other parts of the world.
Alea Jacarandas | Hassen Ferhani | Algeria, France | U.S. Premiere
In Algiers, a writer embarks on a poetic mapping of jacarandas, those purple-flowering trees from Latin America. His filmmaker son follows him on this intimate journey.
Argonauts at the End of History | Sierra Pettengill | United States, Georgia, Ukraine | World Premiere
A group of sailors from the USSR join a race around the world, navigating wild seas, personal tragedy and the end of the Cold War.
Atlas of Disappearance | Manuel Correa | Spain | North American Premiere
Atlas of Disappearance exposes Valle de los Caídos, where technology unearths the truth buried beneath fascist monumentality.
Baby Jackfruit, Baby Guava | Nông Nhật Quang | Vietnam, Korea | US Premiere
When an unplanned baby enters the lives of a conservative mother, neurodivergent daughter and detached gay son, the trio travels back in time through their diaries and family photos to mend ruptured bonds and prepare for a new cycle of motherhood.
Boatbuilders | Luke Lorentzen | United States | North American Premiere
Over the course of 16 months, at the head of a remote harbor in Maine, the workers of the Brooklin Boat Yard meticulously build a 56-foot wooden sailboat. As the seasons change and the vessel takes shape, director Luke Lorentzen immerses the viewer in a close-knit community rooted in time-honored craft, shared joys, and mutual respect.
In a rural lobster fishing village, Bucks Harbor explores manhood, community and survival in a harsh and beautiful world.
Carl Sagan: We Are Made of Star Stuff | Nanette Burstein | United States
An intimate portrait of visionary astronomer, author and television star Carl Sagan, whose groundbreaking ideas transformed our understanding of the cosmos and human existence.
As the Nuxalk trace their vanished ooligan through settler tapes and a historic land claim, their radio station becomes courtroom, confessional and conjuring ground. The fish and the people return together or not at all.
Dependence | Grace Harper Brighouse | United Kingdom | World Premiere
Sifting through a lifetime of home movies, a family navigates the slow reality of OxyContin addiction and the sharp, sudden shock of profound grief. In an accumulation of ordinary moments, Dependence is a portrait of loving someone you cannot save.
Everest: The Other Side | Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi | United States, China, Nepal
Elite ski mountaineers Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson share an audacious dream: to climb up and ski down the direct North Face of Everest, taking on one of the most dangerous routes on the world’s tallest mountain. Blending breathtaking spectacle and romance, this is an epic story of resilience and transcendence.
How To Clean A House In 10 Easy Steps | Carolina Gonzalez Valencia | United States
Beatriz Valencia, a domestic worker in the United States, and Carolina, her daughter and filmmaker, collaborate to create the fictional character of a writer.
The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer | Alessandra Sanguinetti | Argentina
Filmed over 25 years by photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti, two cousins grow up in the Pampas of Argentina in this stirring portrait of rural life and celebration of female friendship.
Jaripeo | Efraín Mojica, Rebecca Zweig | Mexico, United States, France
Jaripeo journeys to Michoacán’s hypermasculine rodeos. What starts as a celebration of tradition descends into the subconscious of memory, queer desire, and longing. A reckoning with the wounds and beauty of a home left behind.
Jean-Michel Basquiat | Quinn Whitney Wilson, Viridiana Lieberman | United States
Jean-Michel Basquiat is a reclamation of what has been lost in the legacy of a globally renowned artist.
mother, you have not died yet. but you will. and when you do, you will finally be alive again. | Advik Beni | South Africa, United States | North American Premiere
In Durban’s Indian township, where post-apartheid violence still simmers, Lishana tends to her dying mother. Through photography, she reflects on life and death, past and present, oscillating between the tangible and mystical.
An incisive look behind the legend of Elon Musk, the world’s most heralded “inventor-entrepreneur,” who has enormous influence on the world in which we all live.
No Money No Honey | Nicole Costa | Chile, United States | World Premiere
Revisiting old VHS tapes, Máxima Mauricio, an Argentine sex worker, longs for her golden days in Miami while confronting a childhood marked by neglect and abuse. As she reconciles with her past, she finds strength in friends and the trans community.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem | William Greaves, David Greaves | United States
A decade after his death, genre-defying filmmaker William Greaves has one last trick up his sleeve with what he considered the most important event he captured on film: a 1972 party he engineered with the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance.
Past Future Continuous | Morteza Ahmadvand, Firouzeh Khosrovani | Iran, Norway, Italy | North American Premiere
Past Future Continuous is an intimate, poetic documentary exploring exile and memory. It offers a timely reflection on displacement, identity and the longing for home.
Replica | Chouwa Liang | China, France | U.S. Premiere
Young Chinese women turn to AI companions in search of the love they feel is missing from their lives — but are chatbots the answer, or are they standing in the way of real human connection?
Revolutionaries Never Die | Mohanad Yaqubi | Palestine, Belgium, Qatar | U.S. Premiere
Revolutionaries Never Die explores the politics of memory and the profound capacity of filmmaking to navigate the complexities of grief by looking at the archives of Jocelyne Saab.
Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing | Erik Shirai | Japan, United States, United Kingdom, Denmark
SUMO: Spirit Weighs Nothing is the first-ever documentary feature to reveal the secret world of sumo wrestling to international audiences, all from the unique perspective of the famed wrestlers themselves.
Thanks for Coming | Alain Cavalier | France | U.S. Premiere
The final episode of Alain Cavalier’s video diary. “Le Filmeur” traces his late life trough the approach of death and the beauty of life intertwine with his doubts and contradictions as he encounters others.
To Hold a Mountain | Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić | Serbia, France, Montenegro, Slovenia
In the remote highlands of Montenegro, a shepherd mother and daughter proudly defend their ancestral mountain from the threat of becoming a NATO military training ground for mortar shelling, stirring memories of the violence that shattered their family.
Tutu | Sam Pollard | United States | North American Premiere
Through never-before-seen archival footage and first-hand accounts of those who knew him best, the film traces Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s rise as the voice of the oppressed, guided by faith, hope and an understanding of the power of forgiveness.
Union Town | Barbara Kopple | United States | U.S. Premiere
Union Town completes Barbara Kopple’s (Harlan County, U.S.A, American Dream) trilogy on labor rights. Set in New York City, the film follows delivery industry workers as they take on some of the world’s most powerful corporations, revealing the challenges, passion and humanity at the heart of this growing labor movement.
In the deep snow of the Vosges mountains in France, a father breaking trail urges his son to follow in his footsteps. Wildlife photographer and filmmaker Vincent Munier earned these woods from his own father. Together, three generations of naturalists wait in blinds for the appearance of lynx, deer, owls, and the near-mythical capercaillie.
Windows of Time | Hubert Taylor, Cyrus Moussavi | United States | World Premiere
Driven by a divine vision, filmmaker Hubert Taylor spent forty years capturing hundreds of hours of footage celebrating Black life in South Georgia. Windows of Time weaves this extraordinary archive into an intimate portrait of Hubert’s father, the legendary gospel singer Brother Theotis Taylor, their tight-knit community, and filmmaking as an act of love and liberation for a prodigal son.
The Architect Who Built His Own Collapse | Chun Tien Chen | Taiwan | North American Premiere
The Coral and The Copepod | Jason Jaacks | United States | World Premiere
The Coral Rescuers | Jason Spingarn-Koff | United States
Fish Film | Emma Baiada | United States | World Premiere
For a Moment the Clouds Parted and I Felt the Sun | Jared Lank | United States | World Premiere
Ghazal-e Sorkh | Maryam Tafakory | Iran, United Kingdom, France | U.S. Premiere
Guided Tour | Alba Jaramillo | France, Puerto Rico | U.S. Premiere
If You Don’t Like It, Look Away | Margaux Fournier | France
In the Morning Sun | Serville Poblete | Philippines, Canada
Isla & Isla (Work in Progress) | Mike Day | Scotland
Lovely Butterfly | Fairouz Hasan | Palestine | U.S. Premiere
May the Water Not Freeze | Zahira Hafeeza Chaudhry | United States
Obscura | Timoteus Anggawan Kusno | Indonesia, Netherlands | North American Premiere
Of Indigo and Iron | Alec Ybarra | El Salvador | World Premiere
Of Your Tenderness | Zoulikha Tahar | France | World Premiere
Pacífico | Daniel Duque | France, Colombia | North American Premiere
Plant Life | Brett Marty, Josh Izenberg | United States
Rare Bird | Juliana Schatz Preston | United States | World Premiere
The Revolution Against Death | Joshua Oppenheimer | Denmark, Sweden, United States
River | Emily Cohen Ibanez | United States, Colombia | World Premiere
S’Ardia | Billy Barraclough | Italy | World Premiere
Sea Change | Chiara Hollender | United States | World Premiere
So God Made An Oil Worker | Jeanne Zhen Zhang | United States | World Premiere
Sweetgrass | Mike Sockabasin, Emily Karlik | United States | World Premiere
Test Track | Lydia Cornett | United States | U.S. Premiere
They’re Here | Laura Poitras, Rachel Lauren Mueller | United States | North American Premiere
What We Said to Brussels Airlines | Collectif Faire-Part | Belgium, Democratic Republic of Congo | North American Premiere
About Points NorthEstablished in 2016, Points North Institute is the launching pad for the next generation of nonfiction storytellers. Building on the success of the Camden International Film Festival, Points North brings together a unique, interdisciplinary community of filmmakers, artists, journalists, industry leaders, and audiences, forming a creative hub on the coast of Maine where new stories and talent are discovered, collaborations are born, and the future of nonfiction media is shaped. Programs include the annual Camden International Film Festival and Points North Forum, as well as a year-round calendar of artist development initiatives that nurture the careers of diverse nonfiction storytellers and help them develop a stronger artistic voice.
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